Okay, so I started writing this before Endgame came out, so although it takes place after Endgame, we're pretty much ignoring it. The rundown: Carol did the snap. Tony and Pepper are married but did not have children. Cassie is ten. If you haven't watched The Haunting of Hill House, the story has almost nothing to do with the show, but will take place in the house :)

The Haunted

1. Hill House

"Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone."

Peter closed his eyes as he rested his head against the car window, the hum of the car practically putting him to sleep, which could be dangerous. He didn't want to sleep. Couldn't risk it, not in a car with other people. In the front seat, Mr. Stark kept his hand on the wheel, but he could feel the man's eyes on him. The worried glances and the gentle shoulder squeezes...those had certainly increased in frequency since Peter had...had...come back? Come back to life? Honestly, he didn't remember much between dissolving in Mr. Stark's arms and waking up on Titan…

Nothing he wanted to remember.

Peter tried to push the thought away...tried not to think about watching the woman, Carol Danvers, snap her fingers, and watching all the monsters disappear and then Mr. Stark finding him again and throwing his arms around him...taking his sleeve and gently wiping the blood from his face...helping him limp to the sidelines and sitting down beside him, an arm around his shoulders holding him close.

"I love you, kiddo. I love you so much. I missed you..." He'd whispered. They'd stayed right there, sitting in the middle of the rubble, until May had been brought to the compound and still he'd hovered, still not seeming to want to let Peter out of his sight. Not that Peter had minded.

And now, they were all going to be spending the whole summer together.

He glanced up at the rearview mirror and met Mr. Stark's eyes, giving him a quick smile before placing his head back against the window, making sure to keep his feet close to the seat so as not to knock into the back of Captain America's chair. He was fine. Just...tired. And guilty. He couldn't help it. Couldn't help feeling like this was his fault. His fault that Mr. Stark had to leave his wife and that the others had to leave their friends and families and hide out until things settled down.

One panic attack (that Mr. Stark and his aunt knew of). One minor freak out and one mistake…

He should have been able to handle Mysterio...no, Beck...on his own. He should have been able to stop him. Should have known who he was and that he couldn't be trusted. How could he have let himself...

"Pete?" Peter blinked a few times, realizing that he'd zoned out.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you needed to stop." Mr. Stark repeated. Steve glanced over his shoulder, looking open and friendly and not at all like he blamed Peter for all of this. Not at all like this was all Peter's fault. Which it was.

He'd managed to take down Beck with some help. The Avengers had assembled. Well...not all of them. But still. Enough of them. And...and there had been damage. Property damage. In a foreign country. And Nick Fury had suggested they lie low for a few months while he took up the battle with Ross and another version of the Accords and the UN, despite the fact that they'd saved the world not two months ago...and if Peter had just…

"No. I'm good." Peter forced a smile and waved him off.

"Alright. We should be there in about an hour. What about you, Cap? Think you can hold it that long." Peter had to smile when Steve snorted. The two of them weren't exactly best friends...but Peter could tell that they were doing better. Apparently saving the world together had helped heal some of the hard feelings there...not that Peter knew everything that had happened. Still, they'd been working together to reverse the snap. Maybe they'd officially made up at some point.

Nick Fury had split them up into groups, and the plan was to send them to various safe houses around the country. Clint was with his family somewhere, Peter assumed. Natasha, who had reappeared when Carol had snapped her fingers, was with Bruce somewhere else. And he had worried that Nick Fury would send him somewhere alone or with one of the other Avengers, but Mr. Stark had stepped in, insisting that Peter be with him. Demanded. He wasn't supposed to be listening...no one had intended for him to hear that particular phone call. But he thought that they might have forgotten about his super-hearing.

Peter had been in the living room of the tower, curled up on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket. He hadn't been able to sleep the night before...or any night, really, and had been trying to catch up on some sleep, when he'd heard Mr. Stark's voice from the other room.

"He's coming with me." Mr. Stark's voice had been steady and almost angry, but not quite.

"Tony…" The man had started.

"He helped save the fucking world, Nick. He's seventeen years old and he's not spending the summer with someone he doesn't know. You're sending him with me."

Mr. Stark had come into the living room after that conversation, dropping onto the sofa beside him and putting an arm around his shoulders. "How are you doing, Pete?" He'd asked as if nothing in the world could be the matter. As if everything was totally normal.

"I'm fine." Peter had assured. He was always assuring everyone that he was fine, ever since coming back to life on Titan. That he hadn't started having nightmares every night of some strange darkness...of being cold and alone and afraid and screaming...screaming for Mr. Stark or even Doctor Strange...anyone that would help him. Get him out of that terrible cold nothingness.

He'd been staying at the tower several days a week since returning from the dead, and he wasn't sure when Mr. Stark and his aunt had made some kind of agreement, but it was practically like a custody arrangement. Some days he spent with May, others with Mr. Stark, both of them watching him like a hawk to make sure he was eating and sleeping enough, neither of which he was doing. Peter was just glad that his secret identity was still safe and that May wouldn't have to leave her job over the summer to hide out with them...that her life wouldn't be inconvenienced because of him.

Things were weird now. He'd admit it. Things were weird now that he was back and five years had passed and he'd just tried to go on a school trip and he'd tried to act like everything was normal but it wasn't. Everything wasn't normal. Happy was staying with May and the two of them were together and he had failed and he had weird episodes where his heart would start racing and Mr. Stark said that it was PTSD and asked if he wanted to talk but Peter didn't want to...Peter just wanted things to go back to normal.

He just wanted to be normal again.

The Avengers had all met about a week ago to find out where they'd be staying, Mr. Fury giving them all instructions for what they could and could not do while laying low, which meant no patrols for Peter (or anyone else). No posting on social media (for Spiderman...or anyone else. But mostly Spiderman.) No going out in public at all, really...except for Peter, in that instance. No one knew who Peter was, but Fury still wanted to be careful, just in case Beck had told anyone else his identity.

That was when he'd first met Cassie. She had been sweet, taking to him immediately and asking a million questions about his suit and his webs. According to her dad,ever since seeing a picture of Spiderman online where he'd saved a cat from a tree, Cassie had idolized him. And she'd been thrilled to actually meet him.

It was actually really sweet. He had even heard Scott confiding in Mr. Stark that Cassie had a poster of Spiderman in her room. He and Cassie had been sitting on the sofa in the tower, some cartoons that he hadn't recognized on the TV, while Mr. Fury had been briefing the other adults. Where the girl had gotten a Spiderman poster, Peter wasn't sure, but apparently she'd told all of her classmates that her dad knew the web-slinging hero and was now the most popular girl in school, which was cool with Peter as long as Cassie didn't give away his identity, which he was sure he wouldn't do.

He'd felt sort of like a little kid at that point...like it was Thanksgiving and he had been relegated to the kid's table. Before everything that had happened, that would have bothered him. Would have made him feel indignant and frustrated...he might have whined about it, or insisted on joining the adults in the other room. At the moment, though, all he'd wanted to do was listen to Cassie talk and let the real adults handle this. He'd already proven that he couldn't handle things himself. Had already proven that he was a screw-up.

He'd shaken that thought off and had focused instead on Cassie...on chatting with her and watching cartoons and letting someone else take care of him.

The car pulled up to a huge gate with a padlock, and Peter stared at it, surprised at it's height...and how creepy it was. Like something straight out of a horror movie. Mr. Stark his the brakes and climbed out to unlock it with a huge metal key given to him by Nick Fury, and Peter peered around Steve's shoulder to try and see the house. He couldn't see it though...not yet. He glanced over at his bag beside him. A suitcase stuffed with clothes and a charger for his phone, which Mr. Stark had promised to fix up so that no one could trace it, but he'd still been cautioned not to post anything revealing their location, or tell anyone where they were. Nick Fury was really worried about things like that.

Peter grabbed the bottle of soda that Mr. Stark had bought him at a gas station, and drained the rest of it, resting his head against the back of the seat and closing his eyes again. He wanted to sleep. He needed to stay awake. It had been a long drive after an emotional goodbye to May, but he couldn't let himself sleep. Not yet.

Mr. Stark was back in the car after a moment, driving through the gate, and Peter could feel his eyes on him. Could feel the worry radiating off of him, just like it had radiated off of May ever since he'd seen her for the first time. Ever since that first night in the Tower, which Mr. Stark had bought back at some point, and which had guest rooms for both him and May, since their apartment had been rented to someone else during the five years that they'd been gone, she had been looking at him that way. Laying in bed among their boxes of things that Mr. Stark had saved from the apartment, he had woken up screaming at three in the morning, and she had been at his side immediately, a hand pressed to his face, shushing him gently.

He'd all but shoved her away, gasping for air and staring blindly at the ceiling until Mr. Stark had run in, dressed in pajamas and actual slippers, placing his hands on Peter's shoulders and restraining him when he went to fight him off. He hadn't seen Mr. Stark...not at first. Just darkness and a figure standing over him. "Kid...hey...you're okay." He'd murmured in a voice that had been strangely gentle. Not that Mr. Stark had been mean to him before. But still...it had been new and strange and...nice. Really nice, once he'd relaxed enough to hear him. "You're alright, Pete. It was just a nightmare. You're safe."

But was he?

Peter blinked in surprise as they approached the house, sitting straight up and staring at the humongous old building, the gables blocking out the bright summer sky. It was blue and cloudless, typical for a warm June day, but Peter felt cold all of a sudden. The hairs on his arms stood straight up, and he shivered, wishing he'd thought to grab a blanket.

They pulled up to the house, Mr. Stark parking under a carpark, followed by the other car, driven by Rhodey with Scott and Cassie in the back seat. As everyone climbed out of their cars, Peter continued to stare, feeling his own jaw drop as he stood and craned his neck to see the whole thing. It was...huge. Bigger than any actual house he'd ever seen...it was a mansion! It wasn't in great shape...it looked like one or two of the windows were boarded up, and the landscaping out front was overrun with weeds that choked out the decorative shrubs and flowers.

Almost without him noticing, the others joined him in his gawking.

"This house looks haunted," Cassie told the group, voice skeptical as she broke the silence, a backpack slung over her shoulder. Beside Peter, Mr. Stark was giving the house his own grim look but he snorted a little at the girl's announcement.

"It's not haunted, Cassie." The man assured her. The look she gave him was nothing short of disbelieving as only a ten-year-old could look.

"I don't want to live here. Ghosts live here." She announced as they all began to move forward toward the house...which felt wrong, somehow. Wrong and scary and Peter wanted to turn around and get back in the car. Get Mr. Stark to drive him home. Beg the man to take him home. But he swallowed that fear as Mr. Stark wrapped an arm around his shoulders, patting him on the arm and pulling him forward.

Steve chuckled, him and Rhodey exchanging glances. But could they feel it, Peter wondered. Could they feel how cold it was? He wanted to open his suitcase and pull out his favorite hoodie...wrap it around himself and pull the hood up. It was so, so cold.

"There's no such thing as ghosts, sweetie," Scott assured his daughter, and Cassie gave him a doubtful look, turning to Peter instead who tried to hide the goosebumps raising up on his arms and the twinge of fear from his spider-senses, crossing his arms tightly across his chest. No doubt he was just cold. And tired. It had been such a long drive, and he was just about ready for a nap.

But Cassie was looking up at him, skeptical and worried, so Peter made himself grin down at the girl. "He's right. No ghosts." Remembering their early morning stop at a grocery store where no one had given them a second glance, he crouched down a little, lowering his voice as if confiding a secret. "But I did bring the stuff to make cocoa. Wanna help me make some?"

The ten-year-old lit up then, readily grabbing the hand Peter held out. "Yeah!" She cried, hurrying along beside him as they all made their way through the huge double doors.

Peter made good on his promise, grabbing mugs from the partially stocked kitchen and heating up milk on the stove while Cassie dug through one of the grocery bags for the cocoa mix. They didn't have a microwave, which made Mr. Stark grumble, so he made enough for him too, hoping to cheer him up. He chuckled when Peter ladled the first mug and held it out to him. "Thanks, kid." He grinned, taking a sip.

"This place has WiFi, right?" He asked, handing Cassie a mug that the girl blew in, then poured mugs for the others, figuring they could use it considering how cold the room was. Why was it so cold, he wondered as he took a drink of his own hot chocolate. There was no reason for it to be so cold.

Mr. Stark put his tablet on the table, waiting for a call from Nick Fury now that they had arrived at the safe house. "Thankfully, yes. We're going to set up one of the rooms as a lab, and we will have a secure connection to the internet. Friday is setting herself up as we speak." Peter glanced around the fully stocked kitchen, watching Mr. Stark tap away at his tablet as he drank the hot chocolate.

There were only five of them in the kitchen, but the room felt full. Stuffed to capacity. Almost claustrophobic.

The chime of the tablet distracted Peter from the strange thought. The kitchen wasn't that crowded...it was a big room. A big house. He was sure that Mr. Stark was used to bigger places, but this was a mansion to him. Why had he thought it was crowded when everyone was so spread out? There was so much room! So much air to breathe. Still, he opened a window over the sink a little with shaking hands to let some fresh air in.

Mr. Stark answered the call, revealing Mr. Fury. Agent Fury. Whatever. He rarely interacted with Peter, especially after the whole fiasco with Beck, and the agent was intimidating enough that he was fine with that. The man asked Mr. Stark about setting up Friday and the house, but hesitated when he caught sight of Cassie, throwing Scott a look. Had he not wanted Cassie at the safehouse either?

"Hey, sweetheart, why don't you go check out your room?" Scott suggested, seeming to catch on immediately. Cassie scowled.

"I wanna hear what's going on." She told her father, arms crossed, lips turned down in a pout. "I'm ten! I'm big enough!"

"Pumpkin, I need to have a meeting right now, and it's…". The man trailed off, throwing Fury a pleading look the man barely acknowledged.

"This meeting is for Avengers only, Miss Lang." Fury told the child in his usual deadpan. Peter could see on the girl's face that she was about to argue, so he hopped out off the stool he'd been perching on, glad to have an excuse to get out of the room. Away from Nick Fury and this kitchen that felt so claustrophobic.

"Come on, Cassie. Let's go explore," Peter offered, ignoring the grateful look Scott threw him as he grabbed Cassie's hand.

"But I want to know what Mr. Fury is saying." She whined. Honestly, Peter probably needed to know what he was saying. It was probably important. But the ten-year-old was tired and bored and Peter felt for her. Besides, Mr. Stark would fill him in on the important stuff. A glance at the man assured him that this was true. And he wanted out of this freezing room.

"Mr. Fury is boring," Peter assured the girl with a grin. "Trust me, I had to listen to him a few days ago, and he goes on forever." On the screen set up on the table, the man in question lifted an eyebrow, but he didn't let himself get distracted, even when Steve chuckled under his breath. "Wanna see if we can find any secret rooms?" The girl bit her lip, glancing over at her father, clearly torn between wanting to be in the know and exploring with her second favorite superhero. Finally, she nodded.

"Yeah!" With that, Cassie hopped off her own stool, following Peter out of the kitchen and into the huge foyer where the grand staircase led up to the second floor, where all of their bedrooms apparently were.

He felt a little better, but not much. They were in an open space, but Peter still felt surrounded.

Back in the kitchen, he could hear Mr. Fury talking to the others from the tablet. Peter pointed to the far wall, hoping to distract Cassie from the conversation she wasn't supposed to be overhearing, the two of them moving deeper into the cold room and further away from the kitchen. "That's cool…we have a fireplace! I've never had a fireplace before," he said, trying to insert excitement into his voice. Trying to push past that feeling that had been in his chest for weeks. Cassie needed him to be excited, so he would be excited.

Cassie wandered obligingly closer, glancing back at him before kneeling in front of the grate to get a closer look, her fingers resting on the black metal.

Suddenly, Peter's spider-sense shot a warning up his spine and he jerked his head around, sure he'd seen something in the corner of his eye. Goosebumps erupted on his arms and he rubbed his hands over them in a feeble attempt to warm them, wishing that they could go back to the kitchen…back to safety.

"Peter," the girl called, looking up worriedly from her spot beside the fireplace, and Peter had to fight the urge to grab her…to pull her away from the logs that looked like teeth and the windows that stared down at them like wide, hungry eyes framing a gaping mouth that would surely devour the little girl and him too if they didn't get out of there!

"Let's go see what else we can find, huh?" Peter asked, his voice oddly uneven. Almost fearful sounding. Cassie hesitated, then stood, nodding up at him. In the room beyond them, he could see a spiral staircase and figured that would be safe. "Look!" He pointed, and Cassie's eyes lit up in curiosity.

"Woah! Look at that!" And then, Cassie was taking off through a room with a sofa and a few chairs that was lined with wall to wall bookcases, racing towards the dark metal staircase, Peter hurrying after her and trying to get over the sense that they were being watched.

It's nothing, he told himself. He was being ridiculous. Climbing the stairs behind her, the two of them moving in tight circles, he did his best to ignore the dread unfolding in his stomach.

Thank you for reading!